Slumdog stars skip school, could lose cash, report says

Nov 2, 2009, 8:20 GMT

   New Delhi - Two leading child stars from the Oscar-winning movie Slumdog Millionaire stand to lose their monthly allowance unless they start attending school regularly, a media report said Monday.

   Azharuddin Ismail Shaikh and Rubina Qureishi have been skipping their classes in Mumbai over the past two months, irking the movie's British director, Danny Boyle, whose Jai Ho trust funds the education of the children, the NDTV network reported.

   Boyle has warned the children to get back to school or forfeit a 120-dollar-per-month educational allowance, the report said.

   Following the film's success, Boyle had set up the trust to help the slum children who starred in his Academy Award winner. Besides the monthly allowance, the two children are also to receive a substantial amount of money in a bank account when they graduate.

   The trust also gave the two children's families new apartments after their shanties were demolished by civic authorities in May.

   Trustees confirmed to the PTI news agency that the children would not get any money unless they improve their school attendance.

   'As an attempt to pressure the families to send the kids to school, we have told them that the monthly allowance will be discontinued if the attendance does not improve,' Nirja Matoo told the PTI.

   Asked why he was skipping school, Ismail, 11, told NDTV in an interview, 'My father died and I had to go through a lot of rituals, so I couldn't make it to school'.

   Rubina explained her truancy from school saying she had hurt her foot and later suffered a burn.

   The explanations have not impressed Boyle, who issued the instructions to the trust, the report said. The move has been welcomed by child rights activists who said education should be made a priority.

   However, the children's families were not pleased. Rubina's father, Rafiq Qureishi, said, 'I know what is best for Rubina. Education is important, but there is no need to make it an issue.'

   'They [the trust] called us and said they will stop helping us,' he said. 'I told them God will take care of us.'